One
of our fathers in the faith, the Blessed Doctor Martin Luther, wrote this:

“Faith
is a living, bold trust in God’s grace, so certain of God’s favor that it would
risk death a thousand times trusting in it. Such confidence and knowledge of
God’s grace makes you happy, joyful and bold in your relationship to God and
all creatures. The Holy Spirit makes this happen through faith. Because of it,
you freely, willingly and joyfully do good to everyone, serve everyone, suffer
all kinds of things, love and praise the God who has shown you such grace.
Thus, it is just as impossible to separate faith and works as it is to separate
heat and light from fire! Therefore, watch out for your own false ideas and
guard against good-for-nothing gossips, who think they’re smart enough to
define faith and works, but really are the greatest of fools. Ask God to work
faith in you, or you will remain forever without faith, no matter what you
wish, say or can do,” says Dr. Luther.

For
our Lord Jesus Christ is “the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” He is not just any shepherd, for He isn’t a
“hired hand” who “cares nothing for the sheep.”
No indeed! He is the Good
Shepherd. He is the Good Shepherd
because “He lays down His life for the sheep.”

Rather
than allow the wolf to come and snatch us and scatter us, our Shepherd gathers
us into one flock, and He protects us from the wolf. He will even suffer death upon the cross
before He will allow you to become the wolf’s prey. Is there any other shepherd who stands up for
you like this? Is there any other
shepherd so good?

Jesus
doesn’t just make promises and talk, rather He takes up His cross, and He speaks
words of condemnation to the devil, and words of comfort to His flock. Our Shepherd’s goodness is in His love for
us. For out of this boundless love and
mercy for us, He is willing to suffer and bleed and die – all so that we might
live.

That,
dear brothers and sisters, is the hallmark of the Good Shepherd.

He
is not just working to make a few bucks off of us, but rather He works in order
to take the sins away from us. He
doesn’t only save our lives by defeating the devil, but what’s more, He gives
us life – eternal and joyful life – by being our one true Good Shepherd.

For
what did the Lord speak through the prophet Ezekiel? “Behold, I, I Myself will search for My sheep
and will seek them out…. I will seek out… I will rescue.” He goes on to say that He will bring them
out, gather them, bring them in, and feed them.” The Lord God Himself does this. He doesn’t leave this to a hired hand. The Lord, the Son of God Himself, is this very
Shepherd!

Dear
friends, the Lord Jesus defied evil by rising from the dead. He confounded the devil and the grave by
forgiving our sins and restoring us to the Father unto eternal life. And so whenever sin tempts you; whenever
death haunts you; whenever the devil lies in wait for you, you have a Good
Shepherd to defend you: to crack the head of the devil, to defeat death by
dying, and by destroying the power of sin.
You do not have a hireling. No,
you have a Good Shepherd, one who wields the shepherd’s crook mightily, all for
you, and He does not back down. And so you
can trust Him! This, dear friends, is
the very faith that Luther writes about.

Perhaps
in your life you have had a pet that trusted you without wavering – even in
frightening or difficult times. Your
animals perceive that you love them and will take care of them. And if you are a good shepherd of sorts, your
pet will show unwavering faith in you.

But
in the case of Jesus, He is our truly Good Shepherd. He is perfect. His love is perfect. His care for us is perfect. And we are not brute beasts, but human beings
created in the very image of God. We are
valuable not because of what we can do, but rather because of the love God has
for us. Christ died for us. That is how valuable we are to Him.

“He
Himself,” declares St. Peter, “bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we
might die to sin and live to righteousness.
By His wounds you have been healed.
For you were straying like sheep, but now have returned to the Shepherd
and Overseer of your souls.” Because of
His perfect love toward us, we can perfectly trust Him, for He is the Good
Shepherd.

Dear
friends, Dr. Luther is right. Because
Jesus is our Good Shepherd, we can follow Him implicitly, even trusting our
lives to Him a thousand times over without question.

This
is the source of our faith: our Good Shepherd in whom we trust, in His
promises, in His atonement of us, in His resurrection that points forward to
our own resurrection as well.

Dear
friends, Your Shepherd is calling you to follow Him. He is beckoning You to the rich pasture of
the eternal feast. He is inviting you
gather with the flock, to remain faithful, to trust Him, and to enjoy the
blessings of eternal life.

Jesus
is the Good Shepherd! Amen.

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

In the name of the Father
and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

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Why Father Hollywood?

While serving in a previous ministerial call, I had to moonlight at the local Hollywood Video to pay for health insurance for the family. It took one of my coworkers a couple weeks before she stopped addressing me as "Father" and started using my first name.
It was a fun job. My co-workers were the best. I got free rentals too. You can click here to see a picture. Now you know the rest of the story...